About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

Springbank Goes to the Peat Shop: Longrow 18 Whisky Tasting Notes

Springbank is one of those distilleries that always raises the interest of maltheads. There’s this fascinating combination between craft distilling and old time traditions, unbroken since the 19th century, together with an almost playfulness with experimentation with different wood finishes and styles.

Of the three Springbank brands – the Sherry and light peat of Springbank, the triple distilled Hazelburn and the peated Longrow – the latter is riding the wave of affinity for peated whisky. Longrow is by no means a peat monster, and isn’t meant as such but makes a nice change from the heavier Islay whiskies.

Linger: Spicy and sweet, with raisins and sweet peat. The spicy sharpness stays on the roof of the mouth for a while.

Conclusion

Overall this is a good dram, but isn’t exceptional. Its best feature is the linger, which is long and very rewarding, but this is by no means a complex whisky (a little peat, a little sherry…). It delivers what it promises, the nose and palate are very congruent, but nothing really outstanding here.
Having had this expression together with the Springbank 18 (reviewed here), I think it would be safe to ask if 18 is just too old for Springbanks, making the 12-15 year olds the real crackers in Springbank’s portfolio.